The Surreal World I Live In
by D.E. Lewis
Summary: Who is the girl that Mulder keeps seeing in his dreams, and where do his injuries keep coming from? completed
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah. I don't own Mulder or Scully. You know the drill.  
  
Author's note: If you've read any of my other fanfic, you'll start to notice that I really like vampires. I don't know why, but I do. Oh, I also know very little about X-Files, so feel free to correct me.  
  
The Surreal Word I Live In By D.E. Lewis  
  
A teenage girl stood in a graveyard. She was small, with short black hair, dark eyes, pale skin, and blood red lips. She was quite disoriented, standing above a recently turned up grave.  
  
"What's my name?" She whispered to herself. The wind and rain were her only reply. "What's my name?" She asked more loudly. The weather got stronger. "What's my name?" She yelled at the top of her lungs.  
  
~~  
  
Fox Mulder sat up with a start, cold sweat dripping off his face. He looked around his bedroom. What a weird dream he thought. The clock read 3:00. He flopped back on the bed. His arm stung. He looked at the deep scratches. He didn't remember getting them. "What the-" he broke off. Was he still dreaming? He got out of bed, and went into the bathroom. He was covered in small scratches for some reason. He blinked his eyes. The scratches disappeared, and Fox Mulder saw black.  
  
~~  
  
Dana Scully sat in the hospital room, watching her partner in the bed. Someone from a neighboring apartment had heard some sort of loud shout coming from his apartment. Concerned, they went up to make sure he was all right. The door wasn't locked for some reason. It was an odd piece of evidence, since Mulder always locked his door. The neighbor had come in, and found Mulder collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood from an obvious head wound. Scully had been notified about his recent hospital visit, and came as soon as possible. She placed her hand on his heavily bandaged head, willing him to wake up and prove he was alive. The monitors said so, but he didn't exactly show any signs of life.  
  
"Come on, Mulder. Wake up." She muttered. She took his hand. Several IV's were running into it. He fortunately wasn't in a coma, but was still quite unconscious.  
  
An hour or so later, Mulder showed his first real sign of life. His eyelids fluttered open, and he started to breath heavily, as if it hurt to try. Scully woke up from her chair with a start.  
  
"Mulder! You piece of scum, don't do that to me again!" She exclaimed, and hugged him.  
  
"What was her name?" he whispered.  
  
"What? Maybe I should go get a doctor-" Mulder gripped her arm.  
  
"No. The girl. In the storm. She wanted to know her name. She was alone." He mumbled. His arm fell back on the bed, exhausted.  
  
"What are you talking about? Was this a dream?"  
  
"I-I don't know if it was a dream or not. I don't even know what she was doing in that graveyard." He mumbled again.  
  
"Graveyard?" Scully repeated, seriously doubting that there was no brain damage. "Mulder, go back to sleep. You need rest. You're seriously injured. That's it, just calm down, go to sleep." She soothed, and Mulder obeyed.  
  
~~  
  
The girl was still in the graveyard, but now sitting on the grave. Every time she tried to leave it, large wolf-like creatures would scare her back. She tried climbing the tree she was under, but women with dead faces attacked and frightened her again.  
  
"Who's grave am I on?" She asked aloud. The storm was still raging. She shivered. 


	2. Seizure

Author's note: Okay, it isn't really about vampires. Shoot. Also, sorry for not updating.  
  
Seizure  
  
Scully lay in the cot at the foot of her partner's bed. Worry lines creased her forehead. Shortly after falling asleep, Mulder had gone into convulsions and had been hooked up to a respirator. The IV tubes had increased in number, now adding a sedative and a medicine to stop any more seizures from coming. She sighed. He was going in for an MRI in the morning. He shifted in his sleep, and she jumped. If he had another seizure, well, she didn't want to think about that. Too late. She was. He could have severe brain damage, judging from the magnitude of his last seizure. He could have epilepsy. He could have a brain tumor. He could die. Her thoughts were broken by an odd noise emanating from Mulder's bed. She left the cot and sat by the chair next to him. She held his hand, trying to find out what was wrong. He was whimpering something. She leaned close to try and hear.  
  
"Stop! Stop! You can't leave! We'll both be hurt!" Suddenly, he let out a loud cry of pain and his eyes snapped open, despite the sedative. He tore his hand from Scully's grasp and gripped his arm.  
  
"Mulder, Mulder listen to me. Give me your arm." He didn't respond. He rocked back and forth in pain. Scully pulled his arm away from him. The bloody gash was several inches deep. It looked like a large claw made it. "Mulder, how did you get this?" she asked gently. No response. "Are you listening to me?" He turned his head. His eyes were filled with terror. Scully looked at the wound again. It had disappeared.  
  
~~  
  
She hadn't wanted to speak to the stranger, but she was desperate for answers. He kept asking questions. She drew blanks at every one of them. She finally got up enough courage to ask him his name.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Agent Fox Mulder. Do you know yours at all?" She almost ignored the question. His name fascinated her. She had never met an Agent before. She told him she didn't know her name, and began to walk away from the grave. He tried to keep her back.  
  
"Stop! Stop! You can't leave! We'll both be hurt!" He yelled. The wolf creatures attacked her again. A claw cut her arm. Agent Mulder disappeared.  
  
~~  
  
Mulder sat uncomfortably in the wheelchair. He wanted to get up and walk, but that was apparently out of the question. Scully had taken him down to the MRI to be scanned. The doctor helped him onto the bed, and pulled a blanket up to Mulder's chest. The machine slid back, and Mulder lay still, trying not to think about everything that could be wrong. He suppressed the shivering that threatened to engulf his whole body, and closed his eyes. A small while later, he was woken up. Mulder chided himself for falling asleep. Adults didn't do that when they had tests done. He was helped back into the wheelchair, and brought back to his room.  
  
"Fox Mulder, what the heck are you thinking about? That look on your face is giving me the creeps!" Scully said with a laugh. A look of surprise crossed his face. He hadn't even realized he'd been scowling. Scully laughed harder. He guessed he must have been quite a sight already, clad in a hospital smock, bandages around his head, and hair sticking out at all angles.  
  
"I'm trying to move that chair with my mind." He said. She gripped the wall from laughing so hard. A grin crossed his face. A doctor entered the room.  
  
"I take it you're feeling better." He said with a grin. Scully hiccupped with laughter from a chair. "You'll probably be out of here within a day or so, judging by your energy." Mulder leaned back in bed, smiling with satisfaction. He hated hospitals.  
  
~~  
  
An hour or so later, the doctor came back in with the results of his MRI.  
  
"It seems it was just a single incident. I doubt you'll have another seizure." Scully sighed with relief. Mulder could just hear the crackling in his head. Scully jumped as he began convulsing again, body flopping against the mattress. The doctor called for help, as Scully grabbed a tongue depressor. The gagging noise was horrible. She held his head still while the doctor held the rest of his body. Another doctor and a nurse rushed in, administering all kinds of drugs. Scully sunk to the floor in the corner of the room. A monitor was beeping with Mulder's elevated heart rate. Suddenly, he stopped shaking, as the monitor flat lined.  
  
"Oh God-" she whispered. Then she began sobbing.  
  
~~  
  
Mulder floated along the ceiling. He was watching the doctors administer electric shocks to his body. He drifted over to Scully, sobbing in the corner.  
  
"Scully, please don't cry. I'm fine. Please don't cry." He realized she couldn't hear him. He turned around and began his walk down a dark tunnel with a light at the end. When he reached the light, it held him. It was pure love and gentleness. The warmth enveloped him. His sister came into the light and took his hand. They hugged. Mulder cried. Samantha cried.  
  
"Fox, you have to go back. Really. I'll be here when it's time for you to stay." Mulder nodded. Before he left, he had a question.  
  
"Do you know the girl's name?"  
  
"The girl from your dreams I take it. Yeah. I know it. Tell her that her name is Avery Shiredon." Mulder took one last look at his sister, and went back to his body. The doctors were pulling a sheet over his head. A nurse was trying to comfort Scully, who would not be consoled. He entered his body again, sitting bolt upright, and yelling "I'm alive!" 


	3. Ro

Very important Author's note: As the school year comes to a close, I will not be able to update as much as possible, as I rely on the school computers for my typing needs. I will try while at my dad's house, where I don't have to worry about downloads because we have our own computers, but it isn't a sure thing. Ciao for the summer, and have a fabulous one! -D.E. Lewis  
  
The Tree, The Agent, And the Girls  
  
Scully rushed up to hug Mulder fiercely. She was still sobbing, and he was sitting on the bed, looking rather bewildered.  
  
"If you ever EVER do that again, don't you dare worry about coming back, because I'll kill you!" She said through her tears. Scully gently laid Mulder back on the bed, and he gazed at her. His eyes were watering.  
  
"She's really dead, Scully. She's really dead." Scully knew he was talking about his sister, Samantha Mulder. "She told me something. The girl's name. It's Avery Shiredon."  
  
"I'll look it up." Scully said, her voice cracking.  
  
~~  
  
An hour or so later, Scully found herself in her office at the FBI. Searching the files, she got a hit. Avery Shiredon had disappeared two weeks before, and the case was being investigated by Special Agent Rochelle Dunsmay. Scully left a message on Dunsmay's voice mail, and got ready to return to the hospital.  
  
On the way, her cell phone chirped.  
  
"Scully." She said into it.  
  
"Greetings, earth creature." A tinny voice said back.  
  
"All I want to know is who the heck put you up to prank calls." She snapped.  
  
"Chill, will you? That's how I say hello over the phone. I'm Special Agent Dunsmay, but call me Ro. I just got your message."  
  
"Can you meet me at the hospital? That's where I'm headed. I may have a lead for you."  
  
"Sure thing. See y'all there and later daze!" Scully was a little worried about the formality of this agent. A nickname only, odd ways of speaking, almost no phone respect. Scully smiled to herself. Maybe she grew up with brothers.  
  
~~  
  
Sitting in the hospital room with Mulder, there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Come in." Scully called. The door opened and a very tall woman ducked under the doorframe. She was just shy of seven feet, and wearing black slacks and a button up shirt covered by a dark cotton sweatshirt. Her dark hair was braided and held up in some form of bun. Her feet were clad in tennis shoes, and she was painfully thin and gangly. She wore an absurd half smile on her face.  
  
"Hey, I'm Ro." She said, extending a hand. Scully shook it, staring upward at the young woman. "You know, last I checked, just standing there with your mouth open was rude." She said, still wearing the absurd half grin. Her green eyes held a glittering of laughter in them, making them her prettiest feature.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm Special Agent Scully and this is my partner Special Agent Mulder." She said, gesturing to her partner on the bed.  
  
"H-hi." He stammered. Ro's smile got bigger.  
  
"How y'all feelin'?'" She asked, a sprinkling of southern accent coming through her words.  
  
"I've felt better."  
  
"Well you've looked better too. So, as turnabout is fair play, how's the weather down there?"  
  
"You're funnier that my Uncle Level's Bavarian Polka Band." Both women looked at him strangely.  
  
"I take it we had to be there." Scully said. Mulder smiled.  
  
"So, you said you might have a lead for me." Ro said, getting down to business.  
  
"Yes, actually." Scully said to the tall woman. She explained the story as far as she could, with Mulder putting in the details she didn't know. After a bit, Ro sat forward, her elbows on her knees, index fingers pressed against her lips.  
  
"The place you're describing is a graveyard in my hometown. I actually took this case on because I knew this girl's older sister." She sighed. "It's pretty sad. Her father killed her mother, but he was never convicted. He was pretty into drugs, and she got into them too. One of her younger sisters didn't get into drugs, but the youngest did. Avery. She practically worshiped Caroline. Janet was the only one to turn out at all well." Ro shook her head. "It's awful for a family to end up like that."  
  
"So what course of action do you propose?" Scully asked.  
  
"Actually, I think we should head down to South Carolina. It sounds like the most logical answer to me."  
  
~~  
  
The next morning, the three agents found themselves on an airplane to the southern state. Mulder had been wheeled in by wheelchair on doctor's orders. Scully had pushed him, since Ro looked absolutely absurd when she tried leaning over the good three feet or so to push the wheelchair. It had taken Scully a good five minutes to calm down from laughter. On the plane, Mulder slept very soundly, completely unaware of his surroundings.  
  
"If you don't mind my asking, did you have any siblings, Ro?" Scully asked.  
  
"Actually, yes. I'm the only girl of fifteen kids." Scully's eyes got wide. Fifteen was a lot. She had been expecting two or three. "I'm the shortest of them." Ro put in.  
  
"Somehow the prospect of meeting your family is a little nerve- racking." She joked. Both laughed. Maybe this case wouldn't be so bad. 


	4. Ro's Family

Author's note: I'm back after a long and restful summer, and I am sincerely sorry for not being able to update (I don't have a computer with both word processor and internet access). Here is the next part, and a I hope you have a good school year!  
  
"Sixteen Tall Folk, and Mamma."  
  
As Scully watched out the window of the passenger seat, she saw the Montgomery landscape changing from city to farmland. Houses became few and far between, and she shuddered at the thought of being so isolated. She turned to Ro, who was driving.  
  
"How much farther, do you think?" The driver's seat was all the way back, and Ro looked like she was in a little bumper car, instead of the rental truck.  
  
"That's it, up ahead." She said, pointing to a slightly larger farmhouse, and barn surrounded by acres of fields. Cows were grazing on one quarter of a very large part of the field.  
  
"Why are the cows in just one part of that field, and not the whole thing?"  
  
"It's called rotational grazing. Every year, we move the cows to another part of the pasture; so one part doesn't get overgrazed. It helps the environment, but it can be a little costly." She explained.  
  
The car pulled up to the house, and fourteen very tall boys of various ages rushed out of the house.  
  
"Ro! Ro's home!" They were shouting. One boy looked older than the rest.  
  
"Hey, she's got the city-slickers with her." He said.  
  
"Ha ha, Mick. Scully, Mulder, meet my brothers. From oldest to youngest, here's Mick, Andy, Chris, James, Mac, Billy, Jeff, Scott, Alex, Tom, Kendall, Everett, George, and lil' Larry." She said, putting her hand on the head of a boy taller than Scully was.  
  
"How old are you?" Scully asked Larry.  
  
"Ten." He said, hiding behind Ro. His voice was the high-pitched voice of a shy boy, not yet gone through puberty.  
  
"I'll git yer bags." Mick said. He popped the trunk, and hauled the bags out. He carried them all up in one load. Ro pulled out the wheelchair and set Mulder into it. George ran up (he was almost six feet) and pushed it gently into the house.  
  
~~  
  
"Mamma!" Ro squealed as she entered the kitchen. A woman who couldn't have been five feet stood at the stove, cooking a large meal for the family.  
  
"Hey, there, baby! How's my girl?" Mrs. Dunsmay had medium length blond hair, and very striking green eyes, surrounded by oval shaped, wire rimmed glasses.  
  
"I'm good, Mamma. These are Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder."  
  
"Well hi there, y'all. Billy!" A tall boy with blond hair and round glasses popped his head into the kitchen.  
  
"Yeah, Mamma?"  
  
"Billy, why don't y'all take Agent Mulder upstairs, and let him settle in."  
  
"Sure, Mamma. Come on, now."  
  
"An' dinner's in ten minutes!" Mamma called after him. "Ro, go set up the extra cot in your room for Agent Scully, here."  
  
"Yes, Mamma." She said, and ran up the stairs, two at a time.  
  
"Now, why don't y'all sit down, and I'll start settin' up dinner." Scully sat down in a regular sized chair by the table.  
  
"Um, I hope you don't mind my asking Mrs. Dunsmay-"  
  
"Please, call me Mamma."  
  
"Okay, how do you keep all these kids in line? I mean, fifteen kids would be hard to handle." Scully asked.  
  
"They learn real fast. When I tell them to do something, they better hop to it, or they get a whoopin'." She said, very seriously. "We do things the old fashioned way here."  
  
"So the kids set up their own social hierarchy?" Scully asked, amazed.  
  
"Mmm hmm. Those kids take good care of each other. When Larry started Kindergarten, Mac was late for his first day of high-school 'cuz he was walkin' Larry to class." Scull sat amazed. "Now, I got a family to call in for dinner." She walked out to the back porch, and started ringing a large bell. "DINNER! EVERYONE IN!" She shouted. Scully felt the stampede of feet running toward the kitchen. 


	5. The plot thickens

A/N: I'm sorry I disappeared off the face of the earth for a while, but I forgot about this story completely!  
  
...And the Plot Thickens  
  
Scully lay in the cot in the attic of the Dunsmay house. Ro apparently kept her room there when she was younger. Mulder was in a room with three of the boys. She couldn't get to sleep. The house wasn't quiet. What with all the boys snoring, and someone talking in his sleep, it was downright loud. Suddenly, Ro sat up. Scully watched her for a second. Ro pointed at the wall.  
  
"Go to jail." She said at it, and went back to sleep. Scully was thoroughly unnerved by this. She got up.  
  
"Ro. Ro." She whispered, shaking the woman's shoulder.  
  
"Mmm? Wha-? Oh. What's up?" She asked.  
  
"What just happened?"  
  
"What?" Ro asked raising one eyebrow.  
  
"That whole sitting up and 'go to jail' thing."  
  
"Um... oh. That. I apparently talk in my sleep, according to my last partner." She smiled. "Don't worry. It's usually just insane stuff or whatever." She said and rolled over. Scully was a bit at ease about that much. But something else was about to happen. Then there was a shout. Scully jumped. Footsteps clattered up the stairs, and someone pounded on the door.  
  
"Ro! Ro! Open up! Something's wrong with Agent Mulder!" Kendall was shouting. Ro was out of bed in an instant, throwing on her robe. Scully was right behind her. Sure enough, in the room, Mulder was convulsing.  
  
"Quick, I need something to hold his tongue down with!" One of the boys ran out of the room.  
  
"What's goin' on?" Ro asked.  
  
"He'll choke on his tongue if I don't hold it down, and it's not safe to use your hand." The boy, now identified as Mick, handed Scully a spoon. She forced it into his mouth, holding him still for what seemed like ages. Then he calmed. Scully looked at the clock: Only a minute had passed. Scully took out the spoon, and brushed her hand over his head. Mamma and Mr. Dunsmay were on the edge of the room.  
  
"Will he be alright?" Mamma asked. Scully nodded. "I'll go make us all some tea and we can go back to bed, okay?"  
  
"That'd be nice, Mamma." Ro said. Everyone was a bit subdued. Mulder started opening his eyes.  
  
"Mmmf. What's going on?" He asked.  
  
"You had another seizure. You'll be all right, now. Mamma's making some tea." Scully said, gently.  
  
"She's getting tired. She can't hold on much longer, Scully." Mulder said, seriously.  
  
"The girl? Avery?" Mulder nodded. "Did you take your medicine before bed?" Scully asked." Mulder rolled his eyes and nodded. Scully smiled. He was already back to his usual self.  
  
"Here- oh! Y'all are awake now. That's all good. Here. Drink this." Mamma entered the room with tea. She handed a cup to Mulder. He drank, and soon fell back asleep. Everyone had a cup, and went back to their respective rooms.  
  
"If he has another, call a hospital." Scully instructed the boys in the room.  
  
~~  
  
Back up in Ro's bedroom, Scully noticed Ro's hair for the first time.  
  
"My word. It's long." Long, thick hair flowed down to her ankles. Ro also seemed taller.  
  
"Yeah, I quit cutting it after I graduated high-school. It was shoulder length, then."  
  
"You're also taller."  
  
"Huh? Oh! I forgot about that! Normally indoors, I have to hunch so I don't hit ceilings. Here, Daddy built the house to accommodate tall folks. I'm seven feet, two inches."  
  
"That has to get confusing."  
  
"You should see my profile. They had to alter it for me. 'Indoors: 6' 11". Outdoors: 7' 2"'. " Scully snorted.  
  
"Ro, you are a character." Scully finally slept that night.  
  
~~  
  
Mulder found himself very quickly whisked away to Avery's side, once again. Avery was huddled on the ground.  
  
"Avery? Are you alright?" Mulder asked.  
  
"I don't know. I'm disappearing." Mulder raised one eyebrow.  
  
"What do you mean?" She stood up. Parts of her hands were fading. She also was looking a tad more translucent.  
  
"I'm scared. What if I fade completely?" She sat back down. Mulder started thinking.  
  
"I have a hunch. I doubt you'll totally disappear, but I think this is a metaphor. The wolf creatures, maybe those are supposed to be hostility and aggression, since they're attacking us. And the strange women, I saw pictures like that in a book once. I thing those are called Dire Women. Usually they have the same interpretation as death, which can mean influence of negative people.  
  
"Avery, I think we're in your mind, and you're somewhere. We just need to see what's going on."  
  
"What about the tree? And the grave? And my disappearing?" Avery was getting quickly agitated.  
  
"Hey, it's okay. Calm down. Um, first, I think we have to see what kind of tree it is."  
  
"We used to have a tree like that at our old house. It looks like a dead Yew tree."  
  
"That's easy then. Yew symbolizes mourning and death. Let's see... the grave. I think that was needing to look into your soul, or that you have to stand up for your beliefs. What else was there?" Mulder was so absorbed in the interpretation of the dream, he didn't hear someone come up behind him. He was alerted by Avery's scream. Mulder spun around. A large man was looming behind him. "Avery, who is that?"  
  
"I don't know!" She shrieked again.  
  
"It's a stranger... this all fits. Avery, it's nothing! Just a dream!" The man disappeared. "A stranger is pretty common. It represents part of yourself repressed and hidden."  
  
"Like a hidden talent, maybe?"  
  
"Yeah! Just like that! Something else, hmm."  
  
"Why am I disappearing?"  
  
"Um, hmm. I'm not totally sure, but I think that one was anxiety over inadequacies. Like you need more self-esteem. I think the storm has meanings, too, but mostly that's related to feelings, like anger, rage, fear and the like."  
  
"So how do I get out? I just wake up?" Mulder thought about that.  
  
"Probably not. Ro's looking for you." Mulder said.  
  
"Ro! Big Ro from the farm nearby? She's the best!" Mulder smiled.  
  
"She'll like hearing that, and I'm glad you're getting your memory back." Avery hadn't even noticed it was there. "But see, you're missing. Ro was assigned to your case. No one is quite sure if you've run away, or been kidnapped, or killed, or what." Avery started crying.  
  
"I don't remember why I'm gone." She said mournfully. "I wish I could help."  
  
~~  
  
Mulder sat straight up in the cot. He suddenly knew where Avery was.  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Ro's "Go to jail" bit is something one of my sister's friends did. I thought it would be funny. 


	6. Grave Occurances

A/N: And now the action packed conclusion!  
  
"Grave Occurrences"  
  
Scully found herself being woken by a large, male something. She rubbed her eyes, and rolled over.  
  
"Scully! Scully, wake up!" It was Mulder.  
  
"Hey, you're supposed to be in bed-"  
  
"No time. I know where Avery is."  
  
"What? Mulder, this has got to be one of your weirdest things yet. How on earth can you know where she is? No one knows."  
  
"Well, actually, I don't know for sure, but I've got a pretty good idea. We need to wake Ro."  
  
"Don't bother. Y'all 're noisy enough to wake the dead, and they've learned to sleep pretty heavy 'round here. What's this 'bout Avery?" Ro asked.  
  
"Mulder says he knows where she is."  
  
"Not exactly, but pretty close." Mulder and Scully watched as a grin spread across Ro's face.  
  
"Let's go." She said.

* * *

A half-hour later, the three unlikely companions were in Ro's truck, on their way to the Shiredon residence.  
  
"And why do y'all think Avery's here? We searched the area pretty thoroughly." Ro asked skeptically.  
  
"A few things made sense. Avery knew too much about the tree in her dream. She would have to be around that tree a lot to know those things about it." Mulder explained. He had decided to forgo the wheelchair in favor of time.  
  
"So it makes sense that she would be in a spot where she knew best." Scully finished, almost reading her partner's thoughts.  
  
"Exactly. But her dream was almost literal. I guessed she would be in a literal place." Mulder said. The truck stopped in front of the house. It was a tiny, dirty little rent house in poor condition and was in desperate need of a new coat of paint. A large yew tree was in front of the house. This tree was missing almost all of its leaves, and looked pretty dead. It was identical to the one in Avery's dream.  
  
"Here!" Mulder shouted, dashing out of the car.  
  
"Mulder, we need a warrant to search here..." Scully warned.  
  
"Don't worry. The bank repossessed the place after Avery's pop refused to pay the rent. We have free reign." Ro said, hurriedly. Mulder was on his hands and knees on the ground around the tree.  
  
"Hey, check this out. I'll bet the ground was dug up around here. This grass is doing too well." Mulder was right. The surrounding grass was brown or light green and dying. The bright green grass was a grave shape, and stuck out in sharp contrast. Mulder pulled at the grass, and it lifted easily, like a carpet. Pulling the grass away, he revealed a recently dug area of ground. "Ro, quick grab the shovel."  
  
"Way ahead of ya there." Ro said, already holding the shovel. She began to dig. Suddenly, she hit something solid. She dug around it, revealing a long, coffin shaped box. Mulder and Scully pulled off the lid. Avery lay in the box, barely breathing.

* * *

Mulder leaned back in the chair in the waiting room of the hospital. Avery was still in ER and there had been no news yet. He sighed. The two of them had shared a bond. They had never met, and yet this was oddly special. A large black man stood at the door to the waiting room.  
  
"Ro?" He asked. The man was the doctor. He clearly knew the woman well.  
  
"Yeah?" Ro's eyes were filled with hope.  
  
"She wants to see all three of you." He said. Ro smiled, and motioned to the other two agents to follow.  
  
Avery was sitting up in the bed. She gazed at all of them.  
  
"Hi." She said, her distinct accent floating around her words. "I don't think we've met." She said to Scully. The introduction was made, and she turned to Mulder.  
  
"Thank you." She said, softly. "You opened a few things I would never have been able to see." Mulder smiled. Then he hugged her. She was small and soft. He imagined this was how his sister would have been.

* * *

Mulder sat at his desk in the basement of the Hoover Building. He sighed as he finished the report needed for the case. Scully looked over at him.  
  
"What was it like?" She asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The connection."  
  
"Imagine having a bond with someone special, but you don't know how special. Like being able to peek into that person's future. You get to be a part of a very special life." Scully smiled to think about her partner's brush with the special girl that Avery Shiredon was. Then she went back to work.

* * *

The year is 2024. It is the presidential elections. The first woman president is about to be inaugurated. A young reporter approaches her. Mrs. President is drawn to this one. She looks at her.  
  
"President Kylen, is it true you had a bit of a bad streak as a teen?" the young woman asks.  
  
"Yes, it is." The President replies.  
  
"So how did you change?"  
  
"Well, it started with these dreams where an FBI agent was helping me out of a very odd place..." President Avery Shiredon Kylen says, and she remembered the face of an agent she never saw again, and never forgot.

_THE END_

A/N:Okay, kinda dumb, and the ending came from this place in my brain similar to heaven-only-knows, but please review anyway. I don't get better without some constructive criticism. 


End file.
